PERSONALITY-DISORDERS AND REGULATIVE STYLES OF PATIENTS WITH TEMPOROMANDIBULAR-JOINT-PAIN-DYSFUNCTION-SYNDROME

A sample of 42 women patients with Temporo-mandibular Joint Pain Dysfu nction Syndrome was given the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II and the Serial Color-Word Test. Compared with sex- and age-matched non clinical controls, temporo-mandibular patients had significantly (1) h igher scores on the Obsessive-Compulsive scale, (2) lower scores of IT a (a pattern concerned with initial times of response), and (3) higher scores of R (linear increase in reading times during the trials). The latter intergroup difference concerned mainly the first subtest, i.e. , temporo-mandibular patients were characterized by higher scores of R from the very beginning of the process of adaptation.